He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

MESSAGE OF FATIMA
OR MESSAGE OF ASSISI?

In a little book published this year, one year after the death of Sister Lucy (How I see the Message of Fatima through Time and Events, Coimbra, June 2006), she relates how in May 1982 the day after her encounter with Pope John Paul II at Fatima, the Provincial of the Congregation of the Carmelites asked her:

« “Have you written all the details concerning the message from the beginning?” I answered no, because I had written the Memoirs hastily, without having the time required for going into details. Our Father Provincial then said to me: “Well! You must do so now; you must now write how you see the message in relation with time and events.” »

SISTER LUCY GAGGED

In fact, the lack of time put forward by Sister Lucy was not the only reason for the gaps in her previous writings. Proof of this is that once the Provincial had left, « a doubt arose in me, she wrote without dissimulation: in view of the Holy See’s norms concerning me, can I do this work without its authorisation? Since these norms ask me not to speak of the apparitions, I can even less write about them! »

The following year, in 1983, Father Provincial stopped at the convent of Coimbra and asked Sister Lucy about the requested work. She submitted to him the “doubt” that was impeding her. Father Provincial then replied to her « that to speak is one thing and to write is another. He also explained to me how the norms cannot concern either the confessor or the spiritual director, and how the norms are not a constraint but a protection and a help ».

Thus, Lucy has been gagged ever since behind the scenes of the Vatican, even during Pius XII’s lifetime, the intrigues of Mgr Montini, the future Paul VI, practicing openness to the East that would soon prevail with John XXIII and the Council (cf. CRC no 97, October 1975, p. 12). But it was in order to protect her and help her to breathe again!

« On 13 March 1983, the confessor, Brother Pedro Lourenço-Ferreira, spoke to me after confession about certain subjects concerning the message and, to my great surprise, gave me the same order, telling me that I should write in detail all that relates to the message and how I see it now in relation with time and events. » In the meanwhile, having once again expressed her doubts to Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, Major Superior and Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, who had come to give the annual retreat to the community, he repeated to her that « it is one thing to speak, it is another to write ».

It is easy to understand why. A written work can be corrected at leisure by the competent Authority… then left to lie dormant for a long time in a cupboard, awaiting the death of its author, as will be the case with this book. The attentive reader will in fact notice obvious traces of such corrections. While confidences made to Fr. Fuentes published in 1957, indefatigably diffused by the Abbé de Nantes since1962, are irreparable!

« In view of this response, I no longer had any reason to hesitate; I must obey with faith, hope and charity, certain that such is God’s will. Thus I will go, Lord, to set down on Your altar this new flower picked in the garden of Your love, but picked from a rosebush covered with thorns in order to pick the petals off on Your road and on mine, even if the petals end up being despised, taken away or swept along by the wind in order finally to be lying about on the ground and trampled underfoot by passers-by, as though they were remnants of my last remains. »

This is exactly what happened since it was necessary to wait until 2006, a year after the death of Sister Lucy, for the publication of these unfinished pages interrupted before the publication of the Third Secret.

Sister Lucy thus set to work, « confident in the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the maternal protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” »

She immediately added: « St. Irenaeus says that the glory of God is the life of man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.” If the manifestation of God gives life to all the beings on the earth, how much more the manifestation of the Father by the Word gives life to all those who see God! »

Here, Sister Lucy speaks like the Abbé de Nantes, who has never ceased to remind our conciliar and post conciliar generation of the second part of the maxim of St. Irenaeus, generally omitted by theologians since Pope Paul VI proclaimed the « cult of man » at St. Peter’s in his speech for the closing of the Council.

« It is on God, through faith, that I am going to fix my gaze [and not on man], because it is in God whom I find the principle without principle, because in God there is neither past nor future; all is present in the light of His immense Being, as though everything took place in the same instant.

« Thus, I see the message [of Our Lady of Fatima] present in God’s immense Being, forever, and He sent it to earth on the day and at the hour that He set in the designs and plans of His infinite mercy, as a new call to faith, hope and love.

« I recall here a passage from the Song of Songs: “Love is strong as Death, jealousy relentless as Sheol. The flash of it is a flash of fire, a flame of Yahweh Himself. Love no flood can quench, no torrents drown.” » (Sg 8.6 b-7)

This inextinguishable furnace is the Immaculate Heart of Mary. « It is the force of this love [that is burning in the Immaculate Heart of Mary], which once again drew God’s attention on us [Mary’s children] in order to take us along and lead us to Him. To drink at this fountain of crystal-clear water, at this source of life, of grace, of strength and light [that is the Immaculate Heart of Mary], which flashes down from Heaven to the earth, inviting us to drink this water and eat this bread [that came from Her virginal womb], so that we might no longer thirst or hunger. “Anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again; anyone who eats this bread will no longer hunger.” »

THE POPE, WAR AND THE VIRGIN

There follows a truly inspired text, a summary of the meaning of the events of Fatima, where we recognise in passing the points of agreement with the interpretation that our Father has given to us for fifty years, that is, far from being a “private revelation”, these events found a new Covenant in Mary, or rather are a renewal of the Eternal Covenant.

« How do I see the message through time, and outside of time: in God’s plans, in the light of His immense Being, it always remains as topical as the day, the hour and the instant that He Himself set because, in the immense mirror of His divine Being, all is present, without past or future. »

The image of the « mirror » is a reminiscence of the Third Secret, which had not yet been revealed at the moment when Sister Lucy wrote these lines. Yet, we know now that this mirror reflects: all the hierarchy of the Church, from the Holy Father to humble laymen, climbing « a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a large Cross of rough-hewn trunks ».

« Thus, always, even before the world existed, the Lord was already thinking of this inhospitable place, which He alone could chose in this way as a house of God and an Ark of the Covenant between God and men of good will. As the angels said at the birth of Jesus Christ: “Peace on earth to men of good will!” »

It is the same for the massif of the Serra de Aire in Portugal, as for Mount Sinai, as for Bethlehem in Judea: « If men had to choose this place, they would have been the first to reject it », Sister Lucy wrote. Even today they reject it, although they know that it was chosen by God. Pope John Paul II, for example, for his message of “Peace to men of good will”, chose Assisi…

« Then how, for such a message, was an uncultivated mountain, a stony place, lacking any natural appeal, chosen without any means of transportation, without the slightest shelter to protect people from the heat of the sun or torrential rains in winter, from cold and storms, from thunder and dazzling lightning, from morning dew and rain!

« This would have seemed to be a folly to men; no one would have come there!

« Well! What men reject, God chooses, because to Him belong the power, wisdom, grace and strength acting in souls, stimulating them and leading them where He wants them. He alone can make sons of Abraham out of stones, so that they may be His people and may come from the ends of the earth to bow down at His feet, so that, united in one same prayer, they may do penance, ask forgiveness, favours and solace for themselves and for their distant brothers; so that they may pardon and sing hymns of gratitude, supplication and praise in honour of our God, the Most High, the Lord of all that exists, and in honour of His Mother and our Mother whom He sent as a Messenger of peace, grace, pardon and love so that She might travel throughout the whole world as Shepherdess and Mother of His people, bring into Her Heart the light of faith, hope and love, which burns for us in the Heart of our God, Lord and Saviour. »

Sister Lucy adds: « What I have said concerning God’s choice of the place, I also say it about the instruments that the Lord chose and that He wanted to use in order to carry out the plans of His immense mercy towards fallen humanity. »

As for Pope John Paul II, he chose « not only Christians of various denominations, but also representatives of various religions ». All the great of this world, « religious leaders »…

« He [the Lord] chose children so poor and ignorant that men would have rejected them as inapt to serve the realisation of such a project. God, however, acts unlike men; He chose what could not be used in order to use it, because to Him belong the wisdom, knowledge, power, and will, and He communicates them to whomever He wishes. What He wants is pure hearts in order to realise His good pleasure in them: “Happy the pure in heart, for they shall see God!” »

MARY’S « SECRET »

After having quoted the words of the second “secret”, which were heard on 13 July 1917 after the vision of Hell, Sister Lucy wonders: « Why does Our Lady demand devotion to Her Immaculate Heart in order to save poor sinners? She says so Herself: it is because God Himself wants it thus. “To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart.” » (p. 50)

Theologians seek reasons, raise objections. Sister Lucy simply replies that the theological foundation of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the will of God. « God wants it thus », period. This does not stop her from developing and from entering into this “secret” of God’s Heart:

« Yes, God wants to make use of Her as the Mother of the people of God, gate of salvation, gate of Heaven, refuge of the sinners who have recourse to Her with faith, hope and love, help of Christians, Mother of the Saviour, who obtains through Her intercession with God, the grace of pardon for those who beseech Her with sincere repentance and grace of conversion. »

All these prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin only find their full meaning in the light of the threat of Hell, which hangs over our heads, which haunts the thought of Sister Lucy, as it haunted that of her little cousins during their short lives. The last hope is the Blessed Virgin! There is no other for each of us and for those whom we love.

« She is the Mother of divine grace, the Mother of divine love, the symbol of which is the Immaculate Heart. It is the receptacle of the love of God and of the souls redeemed by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, Her Son. He entrusted them to the care of His Mother, on Calvary, when He expired, nailed to the cross, with these words: “Woman, behold Your Son.” He referred in this manner to all those who want to follow Him with faith, hope and love, and for whom He gave His life, the life of grace. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is Thee, blessed art Thou amongst women, (because) Jesus the fruit of Thy womb is blessed. Pray for us sinners and make us worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.” »

« If what I am going to say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. »

« And what does Our Lady tell us? “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and often say to Jesus, especially when you make a sacrifice: O my Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

« It is because Mary suffers in Her maternal Heart all the offences committed against Her Son, Jesus Christ our God. Thus, our prayer and our sacrifices, united to the prayer and the sacrifices of Jesus Christ complete what is missing from His redemptive work; it is the portion that belongs to us as members of His Mystical Body; it is for us to carry with faith and love the weight of the cross, saying as Our Lady teaches us: “O my Jesus, it is for love of thee, for the conversion of sinners…”; yes, because love is what increases the value of our prayer and our sacrifices, united with the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. »

TRUE AND FALSE PROPHECY

Sister Lucy continues to comment on the words of the second “secret”: « And there will be peace », this peace that is the result of our encounter with God, through the faithful and constant observation of His Law, that is the commandments God’s Law.

« “The war is going to end” That is the war of 1941-1918. “But if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out in the reign of Pius XI.” In this sense that it would be an atheist war against the Faith, against God and against God’s people, a war that would claim to exterminate Judaism from which came Jesus Christ to us, Our Lady and the Apostles, who transmitted to us the word of God and the gift of faith, hope and charity, this people chosen by God and from the beginning: “Salvation comes from the Jews” (Jn 4.22). »

This thought was developed by Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Auschwitz last May: « By destroying Israel, they ultimately wanted to tear up the taproot of the Christian Faith and to replace it with a faith of their own invention: faith in man. »

Who are “they” The Nazis. Yet, at Fatima on 13 July 1917, Our Lady did not speak of the “errors of Germany” but the « errors of Russia ». This is the first indication in Sister Lucy’s manuscript of a interpolation alien to the constant thought of Our Lady according to which the Second World War was fomented by the « errors of Russia ».

« “When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine and persecutions against the Church and the Holy Father” »

« Assuredly, God did not want the war! Sister Lucy comments. God is on the contrary, the Lord of peace, of the good and of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Such is the Lord’s precept, the first and the last commandment of God’s Law.

« He permits wars, however, like all the multitude of sins that are committed on earth, because of the gift of liberty that He granted to humanity, because He wants to be served, obeyed and loved freely, and not by force. If men use this gift to do evil, they are responsible for it before God, before their conscience and before humanity who suffers the consequences of their errors. For God’s people, these consequences are purificatory for their sins and the sins into which humanity is sinking.

« “To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation of the first Saturdays.” »

« Yes, because the consecration to the Immaculate Heart is a bond that unites with the Mother of the Mystical Body and to Christ present in the Eucharist, who has become our daily bread. May a worthy and pleading reparation be offered to the Father for His people on pilgrimage on the earth! »

« Yet as Our Lady expected us to disregard Her demand, She continued:

“If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated” There is no need to specify how all this came about, since it is known to everyone. »

This is another unusual thought from Sister Lucy’s pen, but very consonant with what we read from Cardinal Ratzinger’s pen after the revealing of the third part of the “secret”: « The first and the second part of the “secret” of Fatima have already been amply discussed in literature that concerns it and it is not useful to illustrate it here once again. » (To understand the meaning of the Message of Fatima, Doc. Cath., 2000, p. 681)

« Let us continue then to see what Our Lady tells us:

« “In the end – that is to say after all that –, My Immaculate Heart will triumph” over all the wars provoked in the world by the errors spread by Russia. » (pp. 52-53)

And the third part of the “Secret”? At the moment when Sister Lucy wrote these lines, this third part had not yet been published. Sister Lucy was thus not authorised to speak about it. Now, it is only after the events announced by this third part that the desired « time of peace » will occur. For the time being, there is war! Pope Benedict XVI himself deplores it in a Letter addressed to the bishop of Assisi, dated 4 September 2006, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of « the interdenominational prayer meeting for peace, desired by my venerable predecessor, John Paul II on 27 October 1986 ».

Contrary to the illusion, the Pope writes, « which led many to dream of a different world in which relationships between peoples would develop shielded from the nightmare of war, and where the process of “globalisation” would be placed under the sign of a pacific meeting between peoples and culture, in the context of a shared international law inspired by the respect of the requirement for truth, justice and solidarity, this dream for peace unfortunately did not come true. »

This is precisely what the third “secret” of 13 July 1917 announced:

« After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little higher up we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; it flashed and gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they were extinguished on contact with the brilliant light that Our Lady radiated against them with Her right hand; pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice:

“Penance, Penance, Penance!” »

According to this prophecy, peace depends therefore, while waiting for us to convert, on Our Lady and on no other person. Consequently, no wonder that we have war, for such was not Pope John Paul II’s “vision”, recalled by Benedict XVI.

« Precisely, and seen from this point of view, the initiative advocated already twenty years ago by John Paul II takes on the nature of a topical prophecy. » Undoubtedly the Holy Father wishes to acknowledge that it was a false prophecy. As in the time of Jeremiah when « prophet no less than priest », everyone said: « “Peace! Peace!” but there is no peace. » (Jr 8.11)

Yet, it is Assisi that Benedict XVI still considers as « a vibrant message in favour of peace » and as « an event destined to leave a sign in the history of our time », not the message of Fatima, nor the sign that appeared in the sky on 13 May 1917.

« His invitation to the leaders of the religions of the world, for a joint testimony for peace, has allowed us to bring to light, unequivocally, that religion can only be a bearer of peace », the Holy Father stated.

If, by “religion”, the Pope means the Catholic religion alone, his statement is infallibly true. If, however, this is not what he means: « Despite the difference that characterise the various religious paths, the recognition of the existence of God, to whom men can attain only from the experience of creation, cannot fail to dispose believers to consider other human beings as brothers. » Without the grace of Christ! Yes, according to Benedict XVI, « evidence of an intimate connection between the relationship with God and the ethic of love is visible in all the great religious traditions ». Thus, we are taken back to the time of the « greater Sillon » that was condemned by Pius X in immortal terms:

« No, Venerable Brethren, there is no genuine fraternity outside Christian charity. Through the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ Our Saviour, Christian charity embraces all men, comforts all, and leads all to the same Faith and same heavenly happiness. » (Letter on the Sillon, n^o 24)

Brother Bruno of Jesus.